Discovering the Chippendale Creative Precinct

What an interesting afternoon it was for 14 of us who joined the Glebe Society’s leisurely stroll through the Chippendale Creative Precinct on Thursday 11 June. After a delicious lunch of home-made dumplings and really special teas at the White Rabbit Gallery we were taken on a guided tour of the current exhibition at this world-renowned gallery. Our guide was thoroughly engaging and knowledgeable about the artworks. The current exhibition explores play in all its aspects starting on the ground floor with a scene in which each of us was asked to re-imagine ourself as a five year old child at the beach surrounded by sand buckets and crabs. As we moved up through the gallery we were guided from childhood games through the wild antics of adolescence to darker adult games of risk, deception and ambiguity. It is such an interesting collection, with some installations being so large that they straddled two floors of the gallery.

Armed with a map showing us the walking route and accompanying notes we then visited a number of galleries in the same precinct. The range of artwork was amazing – we had been promised diversity and, indeed, that is what we found. At the Harrington Street Artists’ Co-operative Gallery the artists selected two of their artworks to discuss, whilst at other galleries including Spot81, Galerie PomPom, and MOP, the gallery owners discussed their current exhibitions. We took a quick peek inside Zigi’s Art Wine and Cheese Bar where the enterprising owners had set up a wine bar, cooking school and art gallery all located in a tiny two-storey terrace house.

We visited the NG Gallery where Nicky Ginsberg, the gallery owner, provided us with an insight into the development of Chippendale as a flourishing and growing creative space for artists. We soon realised that there were a lot more galleries to visit in the same precinct, which is now an emerging and vibrant arts community, just on the doorstep of Glebe. I can thoroughly recommend a visit to the White Rabbit Gallery and a stroll around the many art galleries located in the streets surrounding Central Park.